EDM Cultue: Anna Lunoe Argues Why It's Important To Pay For Music

Anna Lunoe's new track "Breathe" was released last month via the usual digital outlets (iTunes, Beatport, etc). The cost to download the track was $1.29 via iTunes- pretty much industry standard and not exactly breaking the bank by any means.

According to Lunoe, there was a substantial backlash from her fans, upset that she didn't release "Breathe" for free. The response was enough for her to post what she terms on her Facebook page a "pretty impulsive statement about how people who think it's unreasonable to pay $1.45 (AUS) for a song shouldn't be able to hear it".

She subsequently took down her initial response, replacing it with a more 'thought out' discussion on the importance of fans purchasing music. She writes:

With months of hard work aside, making and marketing music is NOT free for an artist. To get our music to you, we need record labels to believe in us, and help pay for the cost of recording music and creating videos. Even with the label's help, a lot of the cost comes out of our own pockets. The label is making the most of that $1.45, but if our fans choose not to pay it, record labels simply cannot afford to develop us."

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She makes some very valid points - making music is not free. There's the cost of studio equipment (or studio rental time), hiring someone to produce the album art, marketing the track (it takes a lot to just to spread the word), and then subsequent promotion costs (video production, remixes, etc). So in the end is a dollar and some change too much to pay?

If it is, there are more than enough ways to listen to a track you like for free pretty much on demand- Spotify, Soundcloud and Youtube. All you need is a connection to the Internet.

Like it or not, this is the music business. Artists' need our support to survive, especially when they are bringing you new electronic music that might go against the grain of what you're hearing on commercial radio 20 times a day. And despite what many think, most independent artists aren't gettting rich off of downloads.

A comment from a fan on Lunoe's Facebook book page sums it up the best "People will happily pay a whopping 5 bucks for a cup of crap coffee that's gone in minutes but they whine over $2 for a song that is the product of months of hard work and can be enjoyed over and over. Hmmmm..."

Support your artists and own your music people! You'll enjoy it that much more.